Girls in Bikinis and Jess Mariano Doin' the Twist?
by Sunshinegirl64
Summary: When Rory and Paris go to California for spring break, they never guess who they'll find there: Jess. Back at the Hollow, Lorelai and Luke are getting worried: resulting in something? Rory went to CA, not FL for spring break in my story.
1. Look Who's Here and Quoting

It was hot. Unbearably hot. No one had ever told her spring break was hot. Summer break, obviously, but spring break was supposed to be pleasant. She guessed Californians liked to rock to a beat of their own. Maybe Hannah Montana, judging from the too-peppy teen voice coming from the tent. Whatever.

It also didn't help that this _was_ California. Where a certain someone lived. A certain someone who had told her he loved her then drove off.

"He's not here." Paris sighed, eyebrows raised.

"Who?" Rory asked innocently.

"Ex-Jess."

"Huh?"

"Ex-boyfriend Jess..."

"That still makes him Jess, so there can't be an ex- Jess."

"Technicalities. I've told you a million times. The chance that he's in California, in the city that we're in, in the place we're in, is, like, 1 in 3 billion."

"He used to live here."

"So, 1 in 2.5 billion. Big deal. _You won't see him_."

But Rory didn't care about probability, trigonometry, or however Paris has pulled those figures from her head. Because there, across the beach, getting a soda, was the exact person in question.

"Rory? What are you- oh my god. But it's almost statistically impossible!"

But Jess never really cared about following statistics.

After 15 minutes he saw her in mid-Dr. Pepper sip. It shot out of his mouth, and got all over his black Strokes shirt. _Ha._ It wasn't very often that Rory caught him off guard. _I win_, Rory though happily to herself, and continued to stare at him from her lounge chair. Would he walk away, or would he approach her? Rory vowed to herself that _he_ would make to first move.

Jess never really cared what Rory promised herself either. After the initial shock, Jess decided to challenge Rory. She could tell he was playing his mind games again. He wasn't moving. He was just staring. _I will NOT make the first move_.

But, once again, body overruled mind.

"I call turf here." Rory stated calmly to him.

"Funny," Jess said in his sarcastic voice. God how she hated that voice. She just wanted to squeeze it out of him. But sometime- no she wouldn't. She would not let her thoughts go there.

"Funny," Jess said. "I didn't realize you had taken up football. Soccer. Or even badminton. I think all of those sports involve turf. So which one is it? My money's on badminton, but Jack over there is _sure_ that it's jump rope."

"Hilarious," Rory spat. "I was here first, so you leave. Maybe that's your sport- professional leaving." Rory knew she sounded stupid, but she had to say something.

Jess gave her one of those sad smiles. Rory blushed, but then turned away._ Hold yourself together._

"What are you doing here anyway? Spring break's not really your thing." Rory decided to go for the uncomfortable approach. Maybe then he would leave.

No such luck. "Well, what can I say. I needed some sunnin' and funnin'. Wanted to get rid of my farmer's tan. What about you? I would think you would be reading in The Hollow." Jess said the last two words with disdain.

"Paris and I though we could use a break from our regular lives." Rory said coolly.

"Oh, the cold treatment. The ice queen has made her appearance in California. So tell me, has LA thawed your icy ways?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Always a comedian. Hey, you could be the next Rush Limbaugh."

"Ouch, that was cold. But hey, we are by nature what we are."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Who's the hot guy Rory's talking to?" Louise asked Paris. Paris was annoyed. Couldn't Louise leave one guy for anyone?

"Her ex-boyfriend from Stars Hollow, who came back about a month ago, but then left." Maybe if she knew he still liked Rory...

No such luck. "So, _ex_-boyfriend?"

"He's cute!" Madeline piped in. "Rory has good taste."

"Never would've thought she'd go for a bad boy," Louise said. "Let's go meet him." She and Madeline rushed off. Paris sighed, then got up. She owed Rory, she knew it. Maybe if she acted quick enough, Louise would only have time to make-out for a couple of minutes, then she could cut her off at the closet...

Rory saw Louise staring to approach. She was in no mood for introductions. "Well, I have to go..."

"Aw, leaving so soon? And we were just starting to get to know each other." Jess could never be serious. That's why she could never try again.

"Yeah," Rory said sadly. "I might just have to say 'I love you' before I go."

Jess' smile dropped. "Rory-"

Too late, Louise intruded. "Rory, darling, introduce me to your friend!"

Rory didn't answer. Jess didn't say anything. Rory pleaded with Paris purely trough telekinesis.

Paris caught the message. "This is Jess, Rory's, uh, friend from Stars Hollow."

Silence.

"So." Small talk really wasn't Paris' thing. Rory silently thanked her. "Still stuck on Bukowski?"

"Yeah," Jess wasn't to big on small talk either.

"He still sucks."

Jess laughed a little. "I guess everyone's wrong about college making you a 'whole new person.'"

Paris started to answer with a snappy comeback, but Rory beat her to it.

"No. Some things never change. Come on Paris."

As Rory turned to leave, she heard Jess behind her.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

Rory spun around. "Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Jess looked down at his feat, and Rory could tell he was embarrassed. Rory couldn't contain her smile. "I guess I was wrong. Some people _do _change. Who knew Jess Mariano has read a made-for-Disney movie!"

And with that, she turned and left.


	2. Oprah Couldn't Pep Talk like This!

This whole crazy idea started out when Paris had enough. Enough campaigning, enough learning, just, to quote, _E__nough already!_ Rory could have cared less if they'd stayed at Yale. But, she'd unwisely decided to join Paris, Janet, and Glenn, and look what it had gotten her: A crappy motel with some crappy high school friends and a crappy ex-boyfriend.

When she told this to Paris, however, Paris responded with a bored "Glad _somebody_ isn't bitter."

"Who's bitter, huh? Maybe this person might be bitter, though, if a whole bunch of crappy things were put in a mixing bowl, stirred with a crappy plastic spoon and put in the oven to make a _huge crappy pie_!"

Paris put her hand on Rory's shoulders and forced her to sit on the bed. Rory didn't care if she was hysterical. She didn't care if she was crazy. She just wanted to leave.

Paris looked at Rory with concern. "I know I'm no Dr. Laura, or Dr. Phil, or even Oprah, but Rory, I am not leaving. So you're stuck here for one more week. You can tell me what happened between you and Jess, or you can sit in the hotel room and be mistaken for a _ look-at-me-all-alone-in-my-room-what-a-perfect-time-for-you-to-come-and-get-it _girl."

Rory looked down at her feat. "Nothing is wrong with me and Jess. It was just a rough break-up, that's all."

Paris rolled her eyes. "You've had rough break-ups before. Well, at least one. But I bet you didn't go all _Psycho_ on your friends when Dean broke up with you the first time. And anyway, something must have happened recently, since you seemed almost perfectly fine these past months at Yale."

Rory looked back up at Paris. "Well, yeah, something did happen, but it was no big deal."

Paris groaned with frustration. "Rory, within 30 seconds, you used the word crappy six times. Now, normally when you want to make a point about how bad something is, you use much better adjectives than crappy. I highly doubt that the thing that happened was 'no big deal.'

Rory sighed. "Fine, you want to know what happened? Jess came to Stars Hollow. I kept accidentally bumping into him, and he kept leaving. Finally, I saw him and ran away. He stopped me, told me that he loved me, and drove away! As usual!" Then the tears came.

Paris was starting to regret having Rory fess up. She wasn't so great with waterworks. "Do you love him?"

"I don't know!"

"_Did_ you love him?"

Rory paused for a moment, then nodded, drying her eyes.

Paris sat, thinking. "Well, you'll always sort of love somebody once you've started loving them. I mean, I'm still a little bit in love with Jamie, even though me and Asher are definitely more connected and more right for each other than Jamie and I were. Asher and I just bond, and let me tell you he's _much_ more experience in in relationships, and not just in communication, either."

Rory gagged. "Not now Paris, seriously."

Paris stood up and said decidedly, "Well, I think you need to talk to him."

"What?"

"You need to talk to him. Figure out does he still love you, do you still love him, do you want to get back together..."

"It's not that easy."

"I just made it sound easy."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So it's easy!"

"No it's not Paris!" Rory stood up as walked a few steps closer to Paris. "It's not, okay? Jess and I were more serious than Dean and I ever were, and let me tell you, the break-up was a hell of a lot more serious too! There wasn't even a break-up! He just left for California, and the last time I talked to him was at the Chilton graduation. He didn't even say anything! It was all me, and all it's ever been is me! It's like he didn't even care. He doesn't think how what he does will affect me! I don't even know _what_ he was thinking when he told me he loved me."

Paris pushed Rory back down onto the bed again. "I think he probably doesn't even know himself."

Rory looked away. "Of course he does. He did it, didn't he?"

"Sometimes we do things we know aren't right when it concerns people we really care about. Didn't this ever happen to you with Jess? Well, not Jess, maybe Dean? Yeah, it had to have happened with Dean, right?" Paris looked at Rory questioningly.

Rory nodded. She knew what Paris was getting at. She had an example front and center in her mind. But it wasn't with Dean. It was at Sookie's wedding, when she saw _him_ and just did the first thing she though of to do. Look how that turned out. But ... as she thought about it, Rory realized she wouldn't take that back, or anything that had happened. She looked back up at Paris. "I don't know it I'm going to talk to him or not, and I don't know if I even think he deserves to drink my spit, but I'll think about it."

Paris nodded. "Good, because I wasn't going to let a stupid boy-girl thing ruin my one break from work."

Rory laughed quietly. "And I was just about to say Oprah ain't got nothing on you."

Paris shrugged. "Hey, I'm not majoring in psychology. Get Kelly Sue to console you." She motioned towards the door. "You coming to the deck?"

Rory got up and joined her. "Wouldn't want to give the guys the wrong impression." She stopped when Paris started to go the opposite way. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm hungry. I'll buy us some burgers at the stand if you go grab us some chairs, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you down there."

"Great."

"Oh, and Paris?"

"Thanks."

Paris smiled as Rory turned to go back to the beach. When Rory was halfway to the stairs, though, she turned and started to run in the opposite direction. She had just spotted the only person in California that owned a leather jacket, and no way was she going to let him ruin her spring break either.


	3. Verbal and Nonverbal Chances

Jess walked up to the door of his single. Like hell he was going to share a room with some crazy Californian. He'd been here almost a year, and he knew what they were like. Well, almost a year minus a few days. God knew _what_ he was thinking on those days.

He reached into his pocket and felt around. "Damn," Jess muttered as he realized he left his room key down at the beach. He looked around an quickly chose the biggest drunk guy he could find.

"Hey," he said as he caught the attention of one bulky guy. "Left my key somewhere. Give me a hand?"

"Sure thing," the guy said as he turned around and slammed himself into Jess' door. The padlock easily fell off. Jess forced himself not to laugh as he thanked the guy. Hey, at forty bucks a night, what could you expect?

He closed the door behind him as he started to undress. The next thing he knew, the door was wide open and Paris was standing right in front of him.

"Geez," he muttered as he quickly pulled his shirt back on. "Paris, what're you doing in my room?"

"Listen," Paris said, eyes staring at him determined. "Go all _Rebel without a Cause_ on me, I don't care. But listen- if you're going to insist on staying here, you're going to act like you're nothing but an acquaintance to Rory. Because I've just listen to her pour her heart out to me, and I am really in no mood for this to become a soap opera disguised by teenagers partying, which is what this trip is starting out to be."

Jess held up his hands. "Woah, calm down Paris. She came over to me."

Paris started pacing around. "You know why I came to California in the first place? To relax! Crazy, I know. Why should I, with my 5.0 GPA, even _think_ about relaxation? But, I came, and some guy in a leather jacket isn't going to ruin it for me!" Giving him one last glare, Paris turned and stalked out of his room.

Jess ran his hand through his hair. _This trip is turning out to be more than I planned..._

_...This trip is turning out to be more than I planned_. Rory laid back on her chair and pulled a book out of her bag. The Great Gatsby fell open on her lap, as she quickly assessed whether she wanted to read it or not. An open book could never be closed once Rory Gilmore got a hold of it, though, and she dived in.

Rory had made it through chapter 3 when she heard something. She looked up, and quickly looked back down again. He hadn't noticed her, though, and was reading a book of his own. Rory closed her eyes and told herself to calm down. She made a condensed pro/con list in her head, the very one that she had put off making in reading Gatsby. The list was long. Too long, in fact, to be made in a mind. Rory was starting to breathe faster when- she realized something. This time, this problem, she would not solve! She wouldn't freeze Jess out, but she wouldn't approach him either. Suddenly, the stress was lifted. Rory smiled, and continued to read her book.

It wasn't until the end of chapter 5 that Rory realized that for the past two chapters, she hadn't read anything. She sighed in frustration as she flipped back to the page where she first started glancing at Jess. She did this every, oh, five sentences or so, and now Rory concluded, that reading a book and spying on someone weren't two things you could mesh into multitasking.

Rory almost yelled out in annoyance. She _couldn't_ do nothing. She had to do something about him! Rory looked around for ideas, and spotted Paris sitting a few seats over. Paris raised her eyebrows at Rory, and Rory shrugged helplessly as she realized that Paris hadn't approached her so she wouldn't be noticed. Rory gave her a look of thanks, then turned around to look at Jess. Her heart sank when he was looking straight at her. Rory let out a dejected sigh, and shrugged her shoulders as if to say _I give up_. Jess looked over at Paris, and Paris shrugged back at him. As Rory and Paris waited for Jess to make a decision, Rory marveled at the wonders on nonverbal communication.

Jess slowly stood up, and walked tentatively over to Rory's chair. Paris once again raised her eyebrows at Rory, and Rory nodded and held up a finger. _Give it a minute_.

Jess sat down on a chair next to Rory. She silently thanked him for taking it slow.

"So, The Great Gatsby?"

"Yeah." 

"Third time reading it?"

"Forth."

Jess laughed. "Even though it's a good book, there are so many things I would have changed about it."

Rory smiled. "Oh really. How would you have changed it, seeing as how this book is assigned to read in almost every American high school."

"Well, for starters..."

And the conversation began that had been hoped and wanted for almost a year.


	4. Phone Call to the Director

_A/N: So, it's been awhile since the last chapter. Well, it seems like awhile. So, this'll be a longer chapter, since Jess is once again hiatus. But Luke is here! Good trade off? Anyway, since this is my first fanfic, I am learning the ropes, and so this is my first announcement. Thanks for the reviews, and more reviews means more smiles! On this side of the computer, anway._

"So, where are we going again?" Paris yelled to Rory with a smile on her face.

Rory paused from getting dressed in the tiny bathroom to answer back aggravatingly. "Paris, seriously. Stop!"

Paris answered back in an uncharacteristically innocent voice. "I just forgot where we were going, that's all, Sally Lou." Her eyebrows arched much more than normal when Rory stepped out of the bathroom. "And I don't want to be under dressed. This is apparently some _pretty fancy_ concert."

Rory pointed her finger. "Aha! So you admit you know where we are going."

Paris was still giving her the same surprised and psychic I-know-why-you're-doing-this look. "Yeah. You just said that it was some of that James Dean wannabe's friends who were giving a Clash concert. That does not require satin gloves."

Rory gave her an annoyed look. "They're cashmere, thank you very much." She widened her eyes and pushed out her lips. "But do you think satin would be more appropriate?"

Paris held up her hands in surrender and turned around. "I just don't no why you're so gussied up to go to a concert," she said in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.

"Did you just say gussied?"

"I just didn't know that the concerts in LA were black tie only..."

"Because that's more 'Sally Lou' than I ever was being."

"And I was under the impression that Jess liked casual dates more than fancy ones."

"But if you want to talk that way, fine. I'll just go hitch up the cattle, but it's your turn to slop the oinkers."

Paris gave Rory a look. "An argument has officially reached it's ending point when one person is talking like the Virgin Mary and the other is talking like they're a permanent resident of Hicksville, USA. " Paris paused. "That's not too far off the mark, though."

Rory sighed. "Hey, I thought the argument was over."

Paris shrugged her shoulder's nonchalantly. "If you say so."

"Just let me call my mom and we can leave."

-gGg-

Lorelai burst into Luke's from the outside. She bounded up to the counter. "Man, that is one _windy_ day."

Luke glanced up at her, and continued taking a man's order. "White or wheat?"

Lorelai judged the man. "He wants wheat."

Luke looked up, alarmed. "You can't tell customers what they want! He could want white. He could think white is far better than wheat!"

Lorelai tilted her head towards Luke. "Ah, but then he would be racist."

The customer looked to Luke. "Wheat is fine."

Luke glared at Lorelai as he wrote down the order. "You need to stop-"

Lorelai interrupted him. "Did I tell you just how _windy_ it was out there?"

Luke sighed. "I believe it was mentioned."

"'Cause it was like _woosh, woosh, woosh_!" Lorelai used hand motions for emphasis. "I could swear I saw Mary Poppins on her cloud up in the sky, ready to better some high class brats."

Luke stared at her. "Well put."

Lorelai smiled and started to nod. "Yes, I believe she was on her way to Hartford. Though the client may be a tad old for Mary's help as a nanny, but she's always looking for new maids."

Luke started to make the customer's sandwich, knowing what was coming.

"I can picture it now. Poppins II. Mary goes undercover as a maid for the ferocious Emily, and is almost reduced to nothing but tears and severance. But she overcomes the bully and wins the horse race by a smidge, being the underdog and all."

"Of course."

"It will also feature four full length songs, three dance numbers, and Bert the chimney sweep as Mary's older friend, who guides her through this difficult time."

"Because without those, it wouldn't be an Academy Award winner."

"Exactly. But I haven't told you the best part. Bert is Mary's lover, but is in a relationship with another women, who happens to hack off all of Emily's limbs and takes five lucky children to her candy factory for a day!" Lorelai stopped and looked at Luke. "Just a little too crazy?"

Luke nodded. "Just a smidge."

Lorelai nodded in acceptance. "I'll work on it another day."

Luke patted her on the shoulder. "Good idea. So, it was just so _windy_ out there."

Lorelai nodded quickly. "Yes, it was! I could practically _see_ the old ladies with carpetbags and umbrellas turned the wrong way being blown around!"

Luke spun around from giving the customer his food. "We are not going there again!"

Lorelai sighed. "Fine, fine. Anyways, long story short..."

"Oh, it just flew by!" Luke said sarcastically.

"Oh, that reminds me. Have you _seen_ how windy it is out there?"

Luke silently cursed his quick answer. "Brought it on myself."

Lorelai smiled at him knowingly. "Long story short, I am freezing, and I need coffee."

"No!"

"What!"

"No."

"That wasn't a 'what?' That was a 'WHAT!'"

Luke threw up his hands. "We had an agreement!"

"But that was before Mary Poppins came!" Lorelai whined. Her cell phone started to ring. "We'll finish this later."

"Hey mom." Lorelai heard Rory's voice, and immediately became calmer. Going to California had worried her, and she was glad to know Rory wasn't dead and drunk.

Luke came over. "No cell phones."

"It's Rory."

"So?"

"So she's in California for the week, remember? The agreement? I can talk on the phone in the diner as long as I don't drink coffee."

Luke pointed his finger at her. "Don't drink coffee."

Lorelai threw up her one free hand. "I just said that! Gosh, I can't believe you forgot our agreement!"

Luke rolled his eyes as Lorelai got back on the phone.

"What's up babe? Partying like it's 1999?"

"Of course."

"That's what Luke said."

"Aren't we being mature today?"

Lorelai smiled. "Let your mother have her fun."

Rory paused for a second, not knowing how to say that Jess was is California.

"Rory, you there?"

"Yeah, um, Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something."

"So, tell."

Rory took a deep breath. "Well, there are some people here who I didn't expect to see?"

"Who?"

"Well, Madeline and Louise."

"You mentioned that last night."

Pause. "And Jess."

"What!"

The whole diner turned to look at Lorelai. Luke smiled. "I know what 'what' that was."

Lorelai lowered her voice. "Jess is there?"

"What!"

This time, everyone turned to look at Luke.

"Inside voice, Lukey." Lorelai held up a finger and started talking to Rory again. "Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah." 

"How did it go?"

"Well, the first time, I was really angry, but the second time was better."

"You talked to him twice?"

"Yeah."

"Honey. The last time to talked to him, he told you he loved you, then left." 

"I know."

"Be super careful. Remember what he did."

Rory sighed. "I know. I've got to go mom."

"Where you headed off to tonight?"

Rory paused, considering what she should say. "A concert with Paris." 

"Sounds fun. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

Lorelai hung up and turned to Luke. "Well, Jess is in California."

Luke had his angry face on. "I'm going to wring his sarcastic little body until he leaves that poor girl alone!"

"He does live in California, Luke."

"I know, but, I just feel like something's going to happen and he's going to hurt her even more."

Lorelai placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know, but let's just give it time, okay?"

Luke sighed. "Okay." He paused, and Lorelai could see him going through an internal battle. "You want some coffee?"

Lorelai's face brightened. "Just a spoonful of coffee makes the medicine go down!"

"Aw jeez."

"Feed the Lorelai, coffee a bag!"

"I can revoke it!"

"Too late, you offered, buddy! Luke-is-the-greatest-guy-expialidocious. Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough..."


	5. Sadness in Different Forms

_A/N: So this will be the last chapter for awhile. Nooooo, not in the whole story, just for around two weeks (since my family's going on a car trip to Washington DC. Can you say F-U-N?) So please don't give up on this story, okay? Thanks for the wonderful reviews; they made many a computer smile. And who doesn't like smiles?_

_Disclaimer (my first one for this story, oops): Though my first name begins with A, it is not Amy. And I don't have two last names, so no worries on the Sherman-Pallendino._

Rory sat in a chair at the club, listening to the music. The band was actually really good. That didn't surprise her, though. Jess always had no tolerance for bad music. Rory looked around once the band was done with their song. She didn't see Jess, but she did see Paris, downing another shot at the bar. Rory remembered what Paris had told her:

"You are not allowed to drink. Only I am allowed to drink." Paris has stated.

"Hmm, I believe both people in question are under drinking age, so it would be illegal for both." Rory has said back, jokingly.

"Listen here- The only reason I'm going to this thing is because you asked me to go with you and your non-boyfriend. I will get however drunk I want. You, however, need to be there to stop me from doing something extremely idiotic."

"Like a flash dance?" Rory asked sarcastically.

"Exactly. The only way you will be able to prevent me from shaming myself into oblivion is if you're sober. So you're going to have to save your binge drinking for later, or I'm not going."

"Fine." Rory agreed half-heartedly. Anything so she could go to this concert.

And now here she was, sitting alone at a concert (with admittedly great music) watching her friend slip into a drunken world.

"Hey."

Rory looked up. Well, maybe not so alone.

-gGg-

Lorelai sat waiting at her table. She was fidgeting around, since Jason was 20 minutes late, and specifically told the waitress if he _was_ late, that she was not to take Lorelai's order. This had happened before, when Lorelai had finished her entire dinner before Jason had even arrived.

"Are you alright, miss?" the waitress asked, worried.

"No," replied Lorelai. "I suffer from type P diabetes, and if I don't receive food in the next 7 minutes, I will drop down and die. How do you think that would make your restaurant look, huh, if someone died in it?"

"Um," the waitress looked around, nervous.

"Not so good, don't you think?" Lorelai said in a huff. The waitress was now fidgeting, and if Jason hadn't come up right that second, she would have probably bolted. Jason gave Lorelai a quick peck on the cheek before he sat down.

"Menu, please." Jason requested.

"You're 20 minutes late." Lorelai scolded. "I don't think you've been on time for one date!"

"Sorry," Jason responded while looking at the menu. "I was really busy at the firm today."

"And you couldn't have gotten off 20 minutes early?" Lorelai chided.

Jason glanced up from his menu. "It's good I got off when I did." He looked over to the waitress. "I'm not ready to order yet. You can go."

Lorelai grabbed the waitress' wrist. "I'm ready to order, though. I'll have the-"

Jason cut her off. "Wait until I'm ready to order, Lorelai."

"At least let me get a drink!"

"You can wait five minutes. Now release the waitress' arm."

Lorelai let the waitress go, and she scurried off. Lorelai sighed. "Why couldn't you at least have let me have a drink."

"You have water." Jason replied.

Lorelai took a deep breath, and said, "I wish you would stop treating me like a child."

"You would have ordered if I hadn't requested them not to take your order, right?"

"Yes, but that's only because you were 20 minutes late!"

Jason sighed. "Let's not fight, alright?"

Lorelai crossed her arms. "Fine."

"So, is Rory alright in California?"

Lorelai smiled. He remembered! "Yes, she's alive if that's what you mean by 'alright.' However, you know the ex-boyfriend that left Stars Hollow?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he's there. And Rory and him have become pretty buddy-buddy. I'm worried about Rory. I mean, she forgave him so fast! She's setting herself up to get hurt. And this punk isn't respectful to anyone, not me, not Luke, not-"

Jason cut her off again. "What do you think about the fillet mignon?"

Lorelai gave him a hurt look. "Were you even listening?"

"Yes, but I don't think you should worry about it?"

"What?"

"I mean, she gets back together with this guy, he leaves her again, no big deal. She's been through it before, and it'll teach her a lesson about this guy."

"So you don't think I should do anything about it?"

"You should probably encourage it."

Lorelai gave Jason a confused look. Did he really expect her to stand on the sidelines with pom-poms, while Rory was getting her heart broken again? "You know what, I'm leaving."

"What?"

Lorelai gave Jason a stern look. "I'm leaving. I just realized we don't have any of the same priorities in life, you have no respect for me or my family. I'm leaving, for good."

Jason put a hand to his head. "Lorelai, sit back down. You're making a scene."

Lorelai's mouth gaped open, shocked. "Goodbye, Jason. I'll come by later to get my stuff."

But as Lorelai walked out of the too-fancy restaurant, strangely, she didn't feel sad.

-gGg-

Luke pushed the buzzer on Nichole and sort-of-his apartment. He struggled to keep from dropping the bags in his hands. They were full of food so he could make a romantic dinner for the two of them. Not that romantic was really Luke's thing. However, he liked to cook, and Nichole was always really happy when he went the extra mile, so how could it hurt?

"Who is it?" Luke heard Nichole's voice on the intercom. He waited a moment, confused. Usually on their dates, Nichole let him come right up without asking who was there.

"Uh, Luke," he answered, using all of his balancing skills to keep the food from spilling all over the floor.

"Luke?" Nichole sounded puzzled.

"Yeah." It was Luke's turn to be puzzled. Why wasn't she letting him in?

"Um, come right up." Nichole sounded rushed. The elevator doors opened, and Luke hurried inside, eager to set down his bags of ingredients.

When Luke got to Nichole's floor, her door was wide open, and Nichole was rushing around, trying to clean up.

"Hi," he said tentatively.

"Luke, hi," Nichole said nervously. "I completely forgot you were coming. I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I just brought some things over for dinner." Luke was getting a little weirded out. Nichole _never_ forgot anything- she was a lawyer for God's sake!

"Good, great. I need to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you in the kitchen." Nichole rushed off to the bathroom. Luke was seriously starting to get worried. Nichole was acting really strange. The phone rang, and Luke yelled, "I'll get it."

"Oh, that's alright," Luke heard Nichole shout back form the bathroom, but too late, he had already answered.

"Nichole Leahy and Luke Danes," he answered grumpily.

"Yeah this is, wait, who the hell is Luke Danes?" a male voice came from the phone.

"Her grandpa," Luke answered back, sarcastically. "Who the hell is this?"

"Oh, this is Thomas Hailburg, Nichole's boyfriend. Can I talk to her Mr. Danes?"

"Sorry, sonny, she'll have to call you back." Luke snapped back, and hung up the phone. Nichole raced out of the bathroom at that exact moment.

"Who was on the phone?" Nichole asked in a strangely calm voice.

"Your freaking boyfriends, that's who." Luke spat. "I can't believe you cheated on me!"

Nichole wrung her hands nervously. "Luke, I'm sorry. Things, just, weren't working well for us."

"Oh, how so?"

Nichole pointed a finger at Luke. "Hey, no need to get rude."

"I'll get as rude as I damn well want!" Luke shouted.

"I wouldn't have had to cheat on you if you weren't hopelessly in love with that Lorelai!" Nichole shouted back.

Luke was silent for a very long time. He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know how many times I've told you, Lorelai and I are just friends. But I guess you didn't trust me. Not that this matters at all- you were the one who cheated. I have nothing to apologize for. Goodbye Nichole." Luke turned and left.

"Luke, wait," he heard Nichole plead softly. He slammed the door of her and now-not-at-all his apartment and pressed the button on the elevator. But as the elevator door opened for him to leave, strangely, he didn't feel sad.

-gGg-

Jess sat down next to Rory. "So, how do you like the band?"

"They're great!" Rory exclaimed. "I mean, they have the whole Clash thing going, but they have a nice sound all their own."

Jess laughed. "I knew you'd like them."

Rory nodded, smiling. "What songs are they playing."

"All the ones on the _London Calling_ album." Jess held out his hand and starting counting on his fingers to remember the songs. "London Calling, obviously."

"Obviously," Rory mocked.

Jess smiled. "_Clampdown, Death or Glory, Hateful, Revolution Rock, The Guns of Brixton_." Jess looked to see if Rory reacted to the last one. He sighed when she didn't. "And that's about it."

Rory smiled and nodded, glad she was able to keep expressionless on the last song Jess had mentioned. Even though they were getting along, Rory was somehow unhappy with the relationship she and Jess now had, though she didn't know why. All she knew was that she didn't want Jess to know that she found _The Guns of Brixton_ more special than any other Clash song.

They sat in silence for awhile, listening to the music. Jess cleared his throat. "You, uh, wanna dance?"

Rory looked up at him, surprised. "What?"

Jess looked down, embarrassed. "I know I'm not the dancing guy, and The Clash aren't a great danging band, but it seems a little less inactive than sitting down. I mean, this _is _a concert," he rambled.

It was Rory's turn to look down. "Um, no thanks."

Jess gave a small dejected look, then shook it away. "Okay," he said in a somewhat-hurt, somewhat-angry way."

Rory decided to be brave, and looked Jess straight in the eye. "Too fast."

Jess stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Okay," he said again, only this time in a more understanding way.

For the rest of the concert, the two sat in silence. Not awkward or mad silence, just, silence. And even though things were good between them, and even though they were somehow back to friendship, strangely, Rory couldn't help but feel a little bit sad.


	6. Hangover, Hungover, and Neither

_A/N: Hello back from DC. Well, the atrocity that is _French Twist_ was the last GG episode to play on the CW, so I hope this chapter might be able to take away some of the pain that was caused by that episode. For me, though, nothing will be able to rectify _French Twist_, other than bringing back GG all together. However, this note is far to long as is, so I will stop it... now._

_Disclaimer: Ooh, making the part before the chapter even longer. Sorry. Let's make this quick- I am not Amy Sherman-Palladino, however many times she tells you otherwise._

Lorelai had a breakup-hangover. The empty feeling where nothing was really processing, and you felt like a huge piece of you was missing (if you were the person who got dumped), or in her case, that someone was repeatedly giving you a swift kick in the ass and saying "Why the hell were you waisting your time with that guy, when you should have been finding 'the one'." Granted, this was the polar opposite of being hungover, but Lorelai had it none-the-less.

She walked into Luke's and up to the counter. There she sat, waiting for 7 minutes, not noticing that Luke was not noticing her.

Finally, Luke came out of his daze and realized Lorelai was waiting for someone to take her order. "Hey, coffee?"

Lorelai looked up. "Oh, um, no thanks."

Luke considered if he should be shocked. "Okay. Pancakes then?" was what came out of his mouth.

"Sure," Lorelai said in a tired voice.

Luke gave the order to Caesar, and turned back to Lorelai. "So, what's new with you?"

"I broke up with my jerk of a boyfriend."

"I broke up with Nichole when I found out she was cheating on me."

Lorelai felt anger swell within her. "How could she do that?"

Luke held up a hand. "You first. So, you broke up with a guy I didn't know you were dating."

"Oh, sorry. Don't feel bad, nobody did." Lorelai explained. "It was kind of a secret. No big deal."

"Ahh," Luke said. "Because people 'kind of secret boyfriends' all the time."

Lorelai gave him a look. "Not the point. Anyway, I found out that he was a jerk," Luke made a noise at this, "And broke up with him." She pretended to dust off her shoulders. "Piece of cake."

"So you didn't know he was a jerk to begin with," Luke teased.

"I kept him around for his dog," Lorelai confided. "That was one creepy cool dog." She straighted up and smiled when Luke gave her her food.

"Where's my coffee?" she said with a frown.

"You said you didn't want any," Luke said, exasperated.

"No I didn't." Lorelai pouted. Luke placed a coffee cup in front of her, and she smiled. "I really think you need to get your hearing checked out, mister." She took a bid sip. "Extra good, since I had to fight to get it. Now your turn."

"For what?"

Lorelai gave an exaggerated sigh. "To tell about the breakup!" She tapped her ears as Luke rolled his eyes.

"I was at her apartment, some guy called, I said I was her grandpa, he believed me and fessed he was her boy toy, I yelled at Nichole, she yelled at me, I walked out, end of story."

Lorelai looked at Luke amazed. "Did you just say boy toy?" Luke rolled his eyes again. "Sorry. I can't believe she did that to you!"

Luke shrugged. "Well, what can you do?"

Lorelai smiled. "You got me out of my breakup-hangover Luke Danes!"

Luke looked confused. "What?"

"It's the feeling you get after you breakup with someone, and you stopped the feeling!" She gave Luke an appreciative smile. "Rory and I made it up. Thanks. You're always here for me." Lorelai leaned across the counter and gave Luke a hug. "See you tomorrow," she said as she hurried out the diner, wishing more men were like him.

Luke gave a small smile from behind his counter. "Don't mention it."

-gGg-

Rory heaved her suitcase into the back of Glenn's van. She then reached over and heaved Paris' in too, since Paris was currently sitting shotgun, and ready to bite the head off of anyone that made any sort of noise whatsoever. This was resulting from the massive amounts of beer she had consumed, then barfed up, the night before- resulting in a massive hangover.

Rory was just about to get in the car when she heard someone come up behind her. She turned around, and saw it was none other than the guy who had been giving her thoughts grief for the past week.

"Hey," Jess said, hands in pockets. "You leaving?"

"Yeah," Rory said to her shoes, something which she had been come accustomed to. "Paris wanted to leave early, and what the person with the hangover wants, the person with the hangover gets." Jess smiled. "You leaving?"

"No," Jess said quietly. "Gotta stay."

"Oh," Rory said sadly. "Bye then."

She turned around to hop in the car, and heard "Rory, wait."

She spun around and faced Jess. "You know what I said to you at my graduation? That I wasn't going to pine? Well, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of that. But then I see you, and the next second I'm your friend again, no worries, no problems. It doesn't matter what you did to me at all!" Rory paused. "I don't like the girl I become with you. It's not your fault about that. The thing is, I can't forgive you just like that. You didn't even explain anything to me. You didn't when we were friends, you didn't when we were dating, and you didn't now." Rory took in a deep breath. "Goodbye, Jess Mariano." And with that, she got in the car.

Jess sighed and realized once again, he'd screwed up. He saw Rory slam the door, and pretended it was him.

Rory tried to hold back the tears as she dialed the most-used number on her cell phone. "Mom? Can you have a non-breakup hangover?"


	7. A Game, Nothing More

_A/N: It's been a while since my last update, but this is going to be a longer chapter. Oh, and I also took the idea for Truth in this chapter from the book _The Truth About Forever_ by Sarah Dessen. Good book. Yeah, that's about all I have to say, so... thanks for all the great reviews, and please R&R._

_Disclaimer: Though I babysit, I don't think 6 bucks an hour is going to cover the amount it would need to purchase the rights to Gilmore Girls. _

It had been two and a half months since Rory left him, and now that classes were over (which meant book discussions) she was doing just fine, thank you very much, Not that she said that when people asked. She shortened it to a nicer 'fine' when asked by her mom, Luke, Andrew, Lane, Dean, Gypsy, Kirk, and a drooling Babette and Miss Patty. Stars Hollow had been having a gossip dry spell, and they were practically down on their hands and knees asking Rory what happened. But she didn't give them that satisfaction.

Rory and Lorelai were now at Luke's, playing a rousing game of _If You Had To_.

"'If you had to'?" Luke asked, confused. "I thought it was 'would you rather?'"

"No, no, no," Lorelai scolded him. "That is an entirely mainstream sleepover game. This is if you had to choose something for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

"Yeah," Rory added. "And if you refuse to answer a question, you loose."

"And you _have_ to tell the truth- you can't just pick something for the sake of picking something."

"It's my turn, so I'll ask mom: If you had to pick, um, would you choose beer or Coke for the rest of your life?"

Lorelai was silent for awhile. "Could the Coke be diet or the beer be light?"

Rory thought about it. "No. The calories in their entirety."

Lorelai stayed quiet for a little while longer. She turned to Luke. "What would you choose?"

Luke stared at them. "Neither. I will drink beer, but not for the rest of my life. And Coke is just a bunch of factory-produced chemicals, so not that either."

"Factory-produced chemically goodness!" Lorelai scoffed. When Luke continued to look at them incredulously, she followed up with a weak, "Oh, that is so not in the spirit of the game," knowing she had already lost.

Luke shook his head at them, and walked away to give Caesar their order. When he returned with their food (two burgers, two fries, and eight Cokes), they had moved on to fast food.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut?" Rory grinned evilly.

"No!" Lorelai wailed. "Not the _two best_ fast food road restaurants!"

Rory shrugged her shoulders. "Gotta choose, or you loose."

"You rhymed," Lorelai said hopefully.

Rory shook her head while saying, "Sorry, I'm not going to forget."

Lorelai pouted as Luke watched the mother-daughter pair play this ridiculous game. "How will I ever choose between medically enhanced chicken and pizza made in the grease Luke pats off our bacon?"

"How did you..." Luke looked at Lorelai in a confused, angry, and somewhat amused way.

Lorelai patted his arm. "Years of spying and eavesdropping, my friend."

"Hey, I didn't know that!" Rory turned from her mom to Luke. "I want extra greasy bacon next time!" Before Luke could respond, she had already turned back to Lorelai. "So, KCF or Pizza Hut?"

"Kentucky Chicken, Pizza in a Hut," Lorelai said in a pained voice. Suddenly, a smile crossed her face, and she started to nod. "Yeah, yeah, that'll work!"

"What?" Rory and Luke asked simultaneously.

"I just had a HUGE epiphany!" It was Lorelai's turn to grin evilly. "I," Lorelai took a pause for dramatic effect. "I would go to a KenTacoHut!"

"Hmmm," Rory considered. "I will give you full points for creativity, and the fact that no one can live life without KenTacoHuts."

"Yes!" Lorelai pumped her arm up and down. "So, taking that amount of skill and wit to come up with that _brilliant_ answer, do you still think the game is stupid?" She raised her eyebrows at Luke expectantly.

"Well, I don't know about the game, but you are the only person that could come up with an answer that skates around the rules without it looking like your skating, so I guess that takes a certain amount of skill and wits," Luke conceded.

Lorelai gave him a wide smile. "Well, what can I say?"

"You _are_ amazing," Luke heard himself say, and then immediately regretted it when he saw the puzzled but pleased look on Lorelai's face. _Oh crap, Danes, you've done it now._

Suddenly, Liz burst through the door. "Big brother, big brother, big brother!" She wrapped him in a giant bear hug, and as Luke returned the gesture, he mentally wiped his forehead. _Saved by the bell._

"Have I got the most stupendous news for you!" Liz, gripping Luke's arms, beamed at him. Just then, TJ walked through the door.

"Did ja' tell him babe? The news?"

"Just about, TJ."

"What news?" Luke looked down at his sister and her idiot of a boyfriend that Jess had so rightly pegged as 'having a certain something.' One of the only things he had in common with that kid, besides their mutual hate for fluffy Stars Hollow stuff and Taylor. But those two things usually came hand in hand.

"Well..." Liz was bopping up and down now. Luke did too, since Liz still had a hold on him. Otherwise, he'd have no part in the 'bopping.'

"It's real big!" TJ jumped in. "Huge, I'd dare say."

Luke slowly pulled his arms from Liz's and crossed them. "Just tell me."

Liz stopped bopping and starting bouncing. Not being able to contain her excitement any longer, she burst out, "We're getting married! TJ and me, married! Can you believe it?"

Luke could only raise his eyebrows.

-gGg-

When Rory heard Jess' mom announce to the whole diner she was getting married, time stopped. Though she heard Luke say _Wow, uh, great Liz_, and her mom pop up and say _Congrats, _Rory didn't process it. All she could think of was Jess.

Lorelai glanced over at her daughter. Rory quickly looked away. But her mom caught the look. The how-freaking-great look. The I'm-about-to-barf look. The I'm-getting-the-hell-out-of-here look.

"Oh, Rory, don't you have some studying to do?" Lorelai asked Rory, eyes full of meaning. Rory gave an emotionless nod, and proceeded to walk out of the diner. Lorelai was still looking at her, and Rory could tell she was trying to relay a message mentally. Rory guessed that her mom was trying to tell her that she'd tell Rory what happened when Rory got home. That Rory would get through this. That Jess probably wouldn't go anyway. All through wiggling her eyebrows. Rory nodded and walked blindly out the door, pausing only to listen to Luke say:

"What? He's not coming? The punk... Don't you worry, I'll call him. And- Lorelai, what the heck is wrong with your eyebrows?"

-gGg-

Jess was lounging on his air mattress, reading Great Expectations for the umpteenth time. He was deep in the book, as he had learned to block out the sound of Todd's snores and the smell of Pete's pot (he'd gotten over the alliteration about the thirtieth time Pete had tried to come up with a name for his business.) Jess tried to steer clear of these guys, mostly on the fact they were stupid morons. He only dealt with them because between his messenger job, Todd's security position, and Pete's 'business,' they barely managed to pay the rent, even for one crummy room in Manhattan. He only insisted that Pete keep the goods out of the apartment. He had no desire to get arrested.

It was due to this reason that Jess almost missed the phone. It was on the last ring that he leaped over Todd and dived on the couch, answering right in the nick of time.

"Nice, man," Todd said appreciatively, the sound of the phone having woken him up. Jess rolled his eyes and he began to speak.

"Lo'?" Jess wasn't into long greetings. It invited too many conversations with random friends of his roommates, who, not unlike his roomies, spoke slowly and with no apparent reason.

"Jess? It's Luke." Jess let out deep sigh. He was in no mood to talk with his uncle.

"Yeah, what?"

"You're not going to Liz's wedding?"

"Um, no. Hey how'd you get my number?"

"How did you find out that I took your car?" Luke retorted.

"Touché," Jess replied sarcastically.

"Anyway," Luke said, ignoring Jess' last comment, "you are coming to your mother's wedding, no questions asked."

"Why do I have to listen to you?" Jess said, sounding stupidly like a 5-year-old.

He heard Luke make an aggravated sound. "Because, because, you took some of my books when you left, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah," Jess said, not knowing what this had to do with the conversation. "You were never going to read them."

"I never said you could take them," Luke answered triumphantly. "You stole! But I won't say anything if you come to the wedding."

"Fine," Jess gave in.

"What?" Luke sounded surprised, probably because Jess agreed so readily.

"I said fine. But not because you asked," his male ego spoke out. "Only because you won't stop bugging me if I don't agree." When Jess heard silence on the other end, he added, "And not because of _her_."

"Who?" Luke asked innocently. Well, as innocent as an unshaven mid-30's man can sound.

"Whatever. I'm over it, she's over it, and I won't talk her." Jess really wasn't in the mood to discuss their meeting in California. "I'll see you tonight, and I'm staying at your place."

"Okay," he heard Luke answer, right before he clicked the phone off. He pushed himself off the couch and grabbed his duffel bag. He shoved the Dickens in it, as well as a couple other books, money, and minimal clothing. Putting his leather jacket on, he left the apartment, not bothering to tell Todd where he was going or how long he would be gone. He walked out of the falling-apart building, and headed to the bus station, getting ready to purchase a round trip to Stars Hell-ow.

-gGg-

One hour later, Rory was sitting on the couch, eating a variety of chips, and her mom bounded through the door. Lorelai sat down, grabbed a handful from each bag, and started in.

"So, babe," she said with her mouth full. "Want to know what's happening?" When Rory shrugged, Lorelai continued. "So Liz is getting married, Renaissance theme," she smiled when she said this. "Anyway, Luke called Jess and got him to come. Are you okay with that?"

Rory shrugged again. "I have to be."

Lorelai sighed, and put her arm around Rory and squeezed. "Come on, Rory. Tell me more about what happened in California. I need to know to understand."

Rory looked at her mom with sad eyes, and began. "Well, at first we fought. Then we started to talk about books, and we were sort of friends again. Then I met him at a concert with Paris, and he asked me to dance."

Chips spewed out of Lorelai's mouth. "_Jess_ asked you to _dance_?"

"Uh huh, but I said no. Because I hadn't really forgave him, you know? But he seemed to understand when I said it was too fast, but the next day he said he was staying in California, and I was leaving. I said that it was weird, and I was still mad at him, and we hadn't even talked about it, and then I left."

The two were quiet for a little while. Lorelai spoke up. "Well, hon, did you ask him anything. Like why he left? Why did he get mad at you when you wouldn't, you know," Lorelai gestured, the words not coming.

"No," Rory answered quietly. "I didn't. But he should have explained, or apologized, or something."

"Well, that's not really the Jess," Lorelai gave Rory a pointed look. "Now, I know I am that kid's biggest hater, but this is really tearing you up. I can tell. So, maybe, you should talk about it instead of getting mad that he didn't bring it up. " Lorelai took another handful of chips. "Have him give a cracked up answer, _then_ get mad."

Rory thought about it. "I'm more mad that he didn't say he was sorry than that he left. I mean, he wasn't a very good boyfriend. And he shouldn't have left without telling me. But, it was good for both of us. I thought we could be friends, or something, though. I still like talking to him."

Lorelai gave Rory a little pat. "Why don't you go grab us some of those good sugary doughy things from Al's, and I'll pick up _Mission Impossible_, and you can think about it."

"Appropriate title."

"I thought so."

-gGg-

Rory had just arrived at Al's, and already she was disappointed. And it nothing to do with Jess, which was strange, because that had been the cause of most of her frustration for the past two and a half months. Al's was closed, which meant no sugar buns.

Rory made and exasperated sound, then muttered, "Why the heck are they closed at 2 on a Wednesday?"

"Well, I heard Kirk say that he was going Algerian, so that means you have about a 3 hour wait, if I am remembering right," she heard a familiar voice say behind her.

Rory whirled around. "Jess," she said breathlessly.

He held up his hands. "The one and only." He gave her a small, sad smile, and then said, "I'll go now." He turned around and started to walk away, but then stopped when Rory said, "Wait."

He turned around and looked at her expectantly. Rory took a deep breath, and then said, "We need to talk." When he didn't shoot down the idea, Rory continued. "I like being your friend, and I think I dealt with California wrong, but I'm still mad at you. I think, though, maybe you explained some stuff, maybe we could be friends again. Maybe."

Jess nodded once. "So, you just want to sit down right now and pull a _Full House _heart-to-heart?"

Rory smiled against her will. "No, I was thinking we could play a game."

"A game," Jess repeated.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of a sleepover game," Jess made a noise, but Rory went on. "It's called Truth. I ask you a question, you have to answer with the truth. Then you ask me, and so on. You can pass one question, but you loose if I can't answer the next one." Rory waited as Jess looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"Okay."

Rory was instantly relived. Maybe, just maybe, this would work. "Meet me at the gazebo at 3? We could get something to eat, or do another thing, whatever we want." Noticing the look on Jess' face, Rory added, "No matter was any resident of Stars Hollow thinks."

Jess gave a smile, barely noticeable, but there. "Okay."

Rory smiled back. "Good."


	8. Truths

_A/N: So this may be the last chapter for awhile, since school started on the 16th. And wow- I'm a freshman. How cool. I'm soooo excited. If only sarcasm could be communicated through the computer. I have no idea if this will be a long or short chapter- depends on how I feel. But I'll give you a teaser- uhhhhh, never mind. I have no teaser. You'll just have to read the chapter._

_Disclaimer: Oh how I _wish_ I owned GG- the episode _French Twist_, Jess leaving, and Rory sleeping with married Dean. Actually, never mind. ASP and DR can keep it!_

Lorelai was setting up the first _Mission Impossible_ (and humming the theme song,) when Rory came in, breathless. Rory had that nervous look on her face, which meant Lorelai should listen up, but not too closely, because she won't like what Rory's about to say. Lorelai sighed and stopped humming, preparing herself for what was going to come.

"Mom," Rory wrung her hands. "You know an hour ago, when you told me I should give Jess a chance to explain?

_Crud, crap, shit, poop. Why did I tell her to do that? This supportive mom stuff is hard!_ "Hey, where are the sugar buns?"

"Mom!" Rory said exasperatedly. "Pay attention! Crisis here!"

"Um, yeah, I remember. Sorry."

"Well," Rory began to fiddle with the buttons on her coat. "I just ran into him."

"What a coinky-dink." Lorelai muttered sarcastically.

"So," Rory continued, ignoring her mom, "I asked him to talk. We're meeting at the gazebo in an hour."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "You asked him to talk and he just said yes?"

"Well, I asked him to play Truth."

Lorelai was quiet for a moment, considering the situation. "I like it. You're advertising to the egotistical part of the male- a game he could win. Smart, smart girl." Rory was silent, so she kept talking. "But, babe, do you really want to do this? He hurt you pretty bad."

Rory gave a firm nod. "I need to. I need to know why." She gave a small smile, and hugged her mom tight. "Thank you," she whispered. Rory stood up. "I have to go, I'm meeting him at 3:00. Movie night instead of afternoon?"

Lorelai sighed, not knowing what to do. "Sure thing." Rory smiled and then left. Lorelai sighed again, and ran her hand through her hair. She picked up the phone and dialed the first number she could think of.

Three rings later, the phone was answered. "Hello?"

"It's Lorelai. Jess is in town, though you probably know that. Rory and him are gonna talk, so meet me down at my place in 5 minutes. Bring your binoculars, and wear all black." Lorelai hung up the phone before Luke could respond with a _whaaatttt?_

She stared down at Tom Cruise. "I'm going to need all the help I can get. Any suggestions?"

-gGg-

Jess was sitting at the gazebo, waiting for Rory. Every so often, people would come out of Luke's, Stars Hollow Video Store, or Doose's to steal a quick glance at him. It was really distracting him from,his book, especially when Kirk sat down next to him and poked him hard on the shoulder.

Jess scooted down the bench. "Kirk, what do you want?"

"Just making sure you weren't a mirage. The vitamins Mother gives me sometimes make me see things- like pizza, or clocks all set 27 minutes too fast, or Cat Kirk-." The 20-35 year old man (nobody really knew) stopped suddenly and shuddered.

Jess glared slightly and returned to his book. "Bye, Kirk."

Kirk didn't move. "I have a girlfriend!" he shouted, directly in Jess' ear.

"Jeez, man," Jess complained, rubbing his ear. "I got the memo. Don't worry, you're off my list of possible people to contact if I'm ever feeling sad about my love life."

Kirk stared a moment, confused, then got up and left. Jess avoided any direct contact with any more Stars Hollowians until Rory arrived.

She plopped herself down a couple feet away and stuck her hands in her lap, clasped together.

"Hey Pollyanna," he said, and she got that familiar expression on her face as her hands flew apart and were placed at her sides. The one where she wasn't sure if she should be insulted, or if she should let is pass as a typical-Jess statement.

"Sooo," Rory drawled out.

"Sooo," Jess repeated her sound.

"I guess we should get started," Rory said worriedly.

"I guess so, since the towns people will soon be able to hear our every word." Jess pointed. All around, people had begun staring again, their interest sparked once again due to Rory's arrival. "Right now, their trying to READ OUR LIPS!" Jess shouted the last three words, and Babette and Miss Patty suddenly stopped consulting and turned a slight red.

"So here are the rules," Rory began.

"Rules?" Jess interjected. "I think I get the gist of it."

"No you don't. I only told you the basic rules," Rory told him. "You underestimate the power of really bored girls."

"Huh," Jess said. "So, rules?"

"Yup, and lots of 'em. You got the overview, so I'll tell you the the Homer version. So, if you think the person isn't telling the complete truth, you have to go 'the name of the game is,' and then the person answering has to give the real answer, or if they really are telling the truth , they just go 'truth. You can also ask follow-up questions if they relate to the first questions.'"

"That's it? No more? No singing if you lie, or prank phone calling your crush if you ask a question relating to cheese?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "That's it. So, should I start?"

"Sure. Why not?" Jess said noncommittally.

"So, I guess you know what my first question is going to be," Rory told him straight off.

Jess sighed, guessing this much. "I think so."

When he didn't say anything, Rory began the game. "Why did you leave?"

Jess took a deep breath, then began. "You have to understand, to begin with, that our situations are alike."

Rory raised her eyebrows. "How so?"

"Well, teen mothers having kids with no paternal support. However, in your situation, you had Lorelai, cool mom extraordinaire. And as small of a part of your life your dad was, you still knew him. I had Liz and Jimmy, though Jimmy is really just a name, since he wasn't there at all." Jess paused for a second. "Though if you think about it, Liz is really just a name too. She drank, smoke pot, and had a different guy as often as I changed my socks. So when Jimmy came, I had to know. I needed a place to go, and there was the attraction of the guy I always wished would come back, but never did. Luke had kicked me out, you were angry at me, there was nothing for me in Stars Hollow."

Rory nodded, hurt. "Nothing?"

Jess looked down. "Well, there was, but I needed something new. We would have made up, eventually, but there would have been more fights." He looked up, and started speaking later. "I mean, come on Rory. Me, a high-school flunkie, and you, a person Yale-bound. I thought you deserved better."

"Well, with all due respect," Rory said hotly, "it doesn't matter what _you_ think."

Jess smiled. "Never really does."

"No, it doesn't." Rory looked into Jess' eyes. She felt that familiar feeling, the one she had surpressed the first time he came back, but the one she let too far out in California. She did her best to keep it at a happy medium. "Anyway," she said breathily, "do you regret leaving?"

"No. I got my act together in California. I realized, even if it was justified, what I did definitely fell under the category of screwing up.

Rory was silent for a long time. "One last thing. You described your mom, uh colorfully." Jess smirked. "I just met her this morning. She didn't seem too bad."

Jess looked Rory straight in the eyes. "Well, Rory, people change."

-gGg-

Lorelai scrutinized Luke as he walked into her house. He was clad in his usual flannel button-up, with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and the famous backwards baseball cap. She frowned. "I said to wear black."

Luke raised his eyebrows at her outfit: black pants, a black sweater, and a black hat. "I didn't' think you were serious."

"Of course I was! How are you going to spy in plaid?"

"You're going to burn up." Luke then registered what Lorelai had said. "We are not going to spy on Jess and Rory. They are old enough to make decisions on their own."

"It's for their own good," Lorelai waived off, then bounded out the door. "Come on!"

Luke sighed as he followed her out the door. Lorelai grinned and spun around. "Okay, Lumberjack-"

"Wait," Luke interrupted. "If I'm going to do this, and I'm not saying I will, you will not use fluffy code names."

"That's why you're _lumberjack_," Lorelai retorted. "I, however, can be as fluffy as I want with my own code name, which is why I am Hello Kitty." She handed him a walkie-talkie. "We will scour the town. When you spot one or both of them, call me. I'm out!"

With that, she was gone, humming a song that sounded suspiciously like the Mission Impossible theme. Luke shook his head as he headed off, not believing what he was about to do.

-gGg-

After Jess asked her how she liked the Yale Daily News, it was Rory's turn to ask a question again. Rory was confused. She had asked Jess all of these serious questions, but all he had asked her was weird ones. What happened in Europe, how was it living with Paris, what was her favorite book (god, was that hard.) It was fun talking about those things, but still. It was weird.

"You're turn," Jess cocked his head like a little kid. Normally Rory would have laughed, but she was too embarrassed about her next question. "Why did you get mad at me?"

"I'm going to need a little more information here."

Rory started again. "Why did you get mad at me, you know, in Kyle's bedroom?"

"Ahhh."

"I mean, I know you probably wanted to do it, but you never seemed like the guy who would get mad over something like that. You knew it was a big deal for me, you had never taken it that far before."

Jess spoke quietly. "This was another thing that falls under the screwing up door." He paused. "I wasn't going to graduate, I wasn't feeling to great about myself. And when you wouldn't, _you know_, I just felt like you didn't want to with me. More rejection. And I know that's crap, you just weren't ready, but I was really angry at myself, and it didn't help." He looked at her, his face showing the tiniest piece of emotion. "I was actually coming after you to tell you that, but you went to Dean, and, well, you know how that turned out."

Rory considered this. "I was ready."

Jess widened his eyes. "What?"

"I was ready," Rory repeated, stronger. "Just not in Kyle's parent's house. Whose bed was that, anyway? What if it was Kyle's? Gross. What if it was his parents'? Oh, ewww! That's disgusting. I mean, we almost did it where his parents, you know," Rory's hands were flying. "Where his parents did it!"

Jess raised his eyebrows. "I bet they changed the sheets."

Rory shook her head. "You never know. _They_ didn't know that there would be a party there. They probably were going to change them when they got back! It's Murphy's Law, and after years of following the precise orders of Murphy, I am just going to say that I know-"

"Rory, you're rambling."

She blushed crimson. "Sorry."

Jess smiled. He had forgotten how nice it was to listen to her ramble. "You hungry?"

"Starved," Rory admitted.

"Well, Al's is probably transformed by now. You wanna go?" Jess asked. "And since it's, well, Al's, there'll be loads less people than at Luke's."

"Sure," Rory smiled happily. "But it's my turn, and I will _not _forget it."

They started in the direction of Al's. "It is not. It's my turn."

"No, your question was 'Are you hungry?'"

Jess rolled his eyes. "You always cheat."

"I do not!" Rory defended. "I merely change the rules in my favor."

Jess was about to respond back when he spotted a very tall, very angry someone. "Oh, shit."

"What?" Rory didn't need the question, though, when she saw her ex-boyfriend and his wife heading towards them. "Shit," she echoed.

From around the corner, Lorelai cringed. Stupid, stupid Dean. "Lumberjack, do you read?" Lorelai spoke into her walkie-talkie.

"Don't call me Lumberjack!" Luke grumbled back.

"I've spotted the Flower and the Dirt, Lumberjack," Lorelai ignored. "And Giraffe is headed their way. I may need backup."

"Giraffe?" Luke questioned.

"Tall, floppy hair, has a habit of chewing weird."

"Dean," Luke realized. "How does he chew weird?"

"Luke!" Lorelai hissed, momentarily forgetting the nickname that was giving him so much grief and her so much pleasure. "Get here now!"

"Coming, coming!" she heard from the walkie-talkie, and then nothing. Lorelai watched intently as her favorite of daughter's boyfriends stomped towards her daughter.

"And the fun begins."


	9. Great Last Parting Words

_A/N: Well, hello again. I have been on a few-week hiatus, so not really a hiatus. During this time, I apologize for any spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes that have been made or will be made in this fic. I know I should proofread more, I know I should! But I'm bad that way- sorry. And I also forgot to thank you guys for reviewing last time. But I'll do it twice now. Thanks for reviewing! Thanks for reviewing! Oh, fun fact. The toad hunting bit, that really happened! We had to come up with a way to stop toads from being over-populated, and that was an idea. Oh yeah, the fun of physical science._

_Disclaimer: This chapter features Dean, so so will this disclaimer. I boo whenever Dean comes on the screen. I make Ugly Jerk Dean icons. I light darts on fire and throw them at his picture (some Jess humor there for ya'.) Do you really think I would _create_ him?_

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing with her?" Dean yelled as he approached the two.

"Dean, it's fine," Rory tried to calm him down.

"It is not fine! Rory, he's an asshole! Why can't you stay away from him?" Dean was attracting the attention that Rory and Jess had just managed to get rid of.

"Dean," Rory pleaded. "We're just talking!" Jess stood, amused, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, smirking. This did not go unnoticed by Dean.

"I've heard the talk around town, and don't think don't I know what you're doing!"

Jess, unable to keep quiet anymore, spoke up. "Clairvoyant now, are we?" Jess ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Look, man, just let it go." Apparently this was the last straw. Dean lunged at Jess and punched him in the face.

Lorelai winced from across the street. She waited for the imminent brawl to begin. She waited. And waited. And waited some more. But Jess had apparently gained some self-control and maturity in California (Lorelai stressed the _some_. He didn't have enough to keep his comments to himself. But still- who woulda' thunk it?) He stood there, glaring at Dean and rubbing his eye. Dean, not satisfied with Jess' reaction, swooped in for another blow. Lorelai instinctively winced again, ready for contact. Jess, though, was ready too. He quickly dodged the punch, and Dean was sent sprawling on the ground. Jess smirked and Lorelai couldn't help but join him. The smile was wiped off her face when Luke ran up next to her and they both registered what was happening.

Lorelai rushed forward, Luke close behind. Rory's head was in her hands, quietly muttering, "Not again." Lorelai wrapped her arms around her daughter. "What the hell are you doing Dean?"

Luke pulled Dean off of the ground, and held his arms tight. "Nobody was bothering you! You, unprovoked, attacked another person. You could be sued!"

Lorelai was about to chime in again, but someone beat her to it. Lindsay, who had been staring with her mouth open, screeched, "Dean, you idiot! Why do you keep punching this guy? Rory's not your girlfriend anymore and it wasn't like he was harassing her. Ugh!" Lindsay spun around and marched off in a huff.

Luke released Dean as the tall boy ran after his wife. "Lindsay, come on. She's my friend. I was just looking out for her!"

Rory hung her head in embarrassment. "How many people are staring?"

Lorelai squeezed her hard as Luke announced, "Nothing to see here. Go back to your lives. I mean it- Kirk! No pictures."

"I'm totally posting this on my blog!" the man announced giddily, camera in hand. He ran back towards his scooter, sped off, and was soon out of site.

"So now not only the whole town, but all of Kirk's weird online friends, will have seen my two ex-boyfriends punching it out!" Rory groaned.

"Well, only for a little while," Lorelai comforted. "They'll completely forget about it when the two-headed toads make their usual appearance and Taylor tries to gets the permit for toad hunting season ."

"And that's not for nearly two months!" Rory cried. "They'll be debating who got in the best hook all over town!"

"No they won't," Luke interjected.

Lorelai and Rory whirled around to look at him, momentarily having forgotten he was there. "What do you mean?" Rory asked quizzically.

"Jess never threw a punch," Luke pointed out.

"Jess!" Rory gasped. "Oh my God! Where did he go? Is he okay?" She begun to swerve her head to look for him.

"I'm sure he's fine," Lorelai comforted. "Probably walking it off. Getting a steak or something."

"A steak?"

"You know, for putting on the eye..."

Rory gave her a firm look and spun her head around again. "I gotta find him!"

"Woah, slow down!" Lorelai advised, gripping Rory's head in her hands. "Keep doing that and your head'll fall right off. And you know how much Mommy hates it when you decapitate yourself. It's grody and hard to reattach."

"I can't let him get away this time!" Rory insisted. Well, tried to insist. But with her face squished by Lorelai, it came out more like, "Ah cont let hem get away dis tom."

Lorelai inadvertently smiled and released her daughter. "Go. It's getting dark out."

Rory nodded seriously, starting off. "I think I know where he is. I'll be back soon at the house."

Luke walked up to stand by Lorelai as she watched Rory walk off. "That little punk," he muttered.

"What'd Jess do?" Lorelai asked genuinely.

Luke gave her a confused look. "I was talking about Dean. You know, the one who just tried to beat up my nephew?"

"Oh," Lorelai realized. "Not used to people calling Dean a punk." They were silent for a moment, considering the strangeness of the situation."I just wish I knew where they were."

"I know where she's going."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you do?"

He nodded. "Jess was constantly at that goddamn bridge we're always trying to fix. I'd bet money that it's him who is always wrecking it, so he can keep it to himself."A Cheshire cat-like smile crept across Lorelai's face. "What?" he questioned apprehensively.

Pulling on the black hat that had fallen off, Lorelai grinned mischievously. "Ready for our ultimate spy mission?"

"No, no, no, no, and no again." Luke held up his hands. "I am putting my foot down."

Lorelai grabbed it. "All systems go." She began to sneak across the gazebo, pulling a protesting Luke behind her.

-gGg-

Rory ran all the way to the bridge, then slowed down when she got there. She wasn't sure what to expect, and she didn't know if Jess was mad at her. She just had to find him, knowing what happened the last time she let him walk away. She took a a deep breath, then plopped down next to him.

He turned his head to stare at her. His face showed the beginning of a black eye- slightly discolored and swollen.

"Sorry for what happened," Rory looked down. "I didn't know Dean would care." Jess raised his eyebrow at her and winced. "Well," she conceded, "I didn't know he would get that mad. Sorry."

"S' not your fault," Jess responded, looking away. "_You_ didn't sucker-punch me."

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm still sorry it happened," Rory shrugged.

Jess looked at her again. "Why do you care so much about us?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Why do you care so much?" Jess repeated. "Why do you need to befriend your ex-boyfriends? That's my question."

"Umm," Rory thought. "I don't know."

"Come on, Rory. Tell the truth."

"Only if you say it the way you're supposed to," Rory sing-songed.

Jess rolled his eyes. "The name of the game is..."

Rory considered this. Why _did_ she need to be friends with Jess and Dean? It wasn't like she had feelings for them anymore. Well, yeah, she did. But only because they'd been in her life so long. Right?

"I guess," she began. "I like things organized. I like closure. I like things neatly cut off and tied with a cute little ribbon. With Dean, he broke up with me, and that was that. We were so close one day and not speaking the next. If he had cheated, that would have been closure. I never would have considered being friends with him. But, there wasn't any resolution, and being friends provided that." She paused. "With you, there was even less. No break-up, no great, last parting words, nothing. Being friends with Dean worked, so I'm doing it again."

Jess nodded. "But you don't really have closure with Dean, do you? I mean, he's married. You hate that. I know you do. I would too. It's stupid. So now, apparently, Dean is happy without you, in holy matrimony, praise be to God. I know you, and you wouldn't consider that closure."

Rory contemplated what he said. "I know your right, but I can't change that situation. I _can_ change this one." She let out a small sigh. "I still can't believe he actually got married."

Jess smirked. "You're not supposed to get married to the rebound."

Rory raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"Lindsay's his rebound, but, being Dean, he didn't know that you only have a one-night stand with them."

"He and Lindsay love each other," Rory said forcefully. "They just weren't ready to get married."

"Uh-huh." Jess agreed sarcastically.

"They do," she insisted.

"Keep on thinking that."

"They do, don't they?" Rory was the epitome of a toddler: little, begging, unsure.

Jess sighed. "They are passionately in love, yet are too young to declare so in the eyes of ethical law."

Rory beamed. "Thank you. I agree."

They sat in silence for awhile. "So," she spoke up, "I guess it's my turn to ask a question."

"I guess so."

"Did you mean it?" Rory asked softly. "What you said back in the winter?"

Jess' face suddenly turned to stone. Where before it had been content, open, it was now unreadable. "Pass," he said finally.

"What?" Rory exclaimed, bewildered.

"Pass," Jess said again. "Congrats, you win the game."

"Come on Jess," Rory pleaded. "Answer. I need you to."

"I don't have to," Jess chose his words carefully. "Game's done. I didn't break any rules."

"God!" Rory cried. "Why won't you ever tell me anything?" She shook her head, somewhat at him, somewhat at herself. "I gotta go." She turned and ran off the bridge and towards her house, trying to hold back the tears that shouldn't be coming.

-gGg-

"What'd he do?" Luke murmured from their plant-covered haven. "He played the game right."

"Luke!" Lorelai whisper-screamed. "He was a total... total... total boy!"

"So? He is one." Luke countered.

"He was supposed to answer insightfully!" Lorelai said exasperatedly. "Rory was giving him a chance to be open, and he didn't take it."

"So?" Luke said again. "That's his right. If he didn't want to express his feelings, he didn't have to.It was a chick game anyway."

Lorelai gave a frustrated sigh. Why couldn't he see how insensitive Jess, and, come to think of it, he, was being? She stared him down. He was giving his signature frown, and his notorious baseball hat was titled to the side, from kneeling in the vegetation. Lorelai couldn't help but think that when he was being infuriating, it just made him look that much hotter. "So guys don't have to show their feelings?" she asked, inching closer.

"Not if they don't want to," Luke clarified.

"Not even if a regular person would normally say how they felt?" Lorelai insisted, leaning even farther forward.

"Nope." Luke stated.

"Well, I'll know what to expect then." Lorelai pressed her lips to his, and suddenly realized what she was doing. She waited for him to pull away, but, surprisingly, he didn't. _Guess Luke isn't as clueless to girls as he makes out to be_.

She deepened the kiss, and thoughts began to be replaced by pure emotions. "What the hell do you think you're doing Gilmore?" she asked herself a minute later in a last futile attempt to keep sane. It seemed to do the trick. She pulled away and beheld a surprised, but smiling Luke. "I gotta go," She whispered, somewhat to him, somewhat to herself. With that, she turned and ran the same direction her daughter had just moments before, leaving an astonished man and his nephew alone at an unfixable bridge.


	10. Sucking x 4

_A/N: So cliffhanger! Ugh, I hate it when authors do that. I'm such a hypocrite. So, I think this may be the second to last chapter. Aww, sad face : ( Well, deformed sad face : ( Gross, that's ugly... I'd like to thank you all for the awesome reviews! We hit 60 man! Oh, and the political reference in the story- I'm not going to tell you if that's what I think or not. It's just what Lorelai thinks (you know you've heard her: Bush has a small head, Republicansdark side, etc. etc.)_

_Disclaimer: I can't think of anything cute to say- oh! Puppies! Yeah, didn't make that up, didn't make the characters up either._

Lorelai rushed through the front door and slammed it behind it. Breathing heavily, she slid over to her daughter, who was devouring a bag of chocolate chips at super-human speed. "We," Lorelai huffed, plopping down on the couch, "really need to get more exercise. I ran the whole way here, 'cuz that's what I do. Run away from my problems. Don't you love your psycho mommy?"

Rory offered the bag. Lorelai gratefully took a large handful. "So, wanna know what I did?" Rory nodded, mouth full. "I kissed Luke," Lorelai said unabashed.

Rory widened her eyes. "When?"

"Uhhh," Lorelai stalled. "When you were off with Jess."

"Why?"

"There you go, being a good journalist." Lorelai sighed. "I don't know. I've just been sad over Jason, and Luke's been so nice, and I was just BOOM, and there you have it."

"I see you also have a talent in run-on-sentences."

"Well, now we know what I should have done in high school." Lorelai joked. "What we don't know is what we should do about _Luke_."

"Did you, um, like it?" Rory asked tentatively.

Lorelai gave an evil smile. "It was fabulous. Like this." She closed her eyes, puckered, and started moving her tongue around.

"Gross!" Rory squealed and shut her eyes. "This is Luke, and I don't need the details."

"Fine," Lorelai agreed, repositioning herself. "I liked it," she admitted. "A lot."

"Well, there's the obvious answer," Rory suggested. "Date him."

"I know, but I don't know if it's a rebound or not. This could ruin our friendship. And I don't even know if he would want to. I ran away."

"There's an obvious answer to that too," Rory said dryly.

"When have I ever been partial to the obvious?" defended Lorelai. "If I was like that, the abso-tastically amazing outift of 00' never would have happened."

"You forgot to mention that your shirt said 'Democrats Kick Ass!' and you wore it to Grandma's Thanksgiving party."

"It's not my fault she was gloating over the election that year more than usual that year!"

Rory rolled her eyes. "What I'm trying to say is that it's obvious what you should do. Luke's always been crazy about you. If you don't talk to him, it'll ruin your friendship anyway. Is that what you want?"

"No," Lorelai pouted. "It's just hard." She was silent for a moment, then turned to look at her daughter. "So what went wrong with Jess?"

"He wouldn't answer my question," Rory sighed, taking an extra large handful of chocolate. "I got mad at him, even though he had that right."

Lorelai looked at her sympathetically and wrapped her arms around her. "Everything will work out."

Rory raised her eyebrows at her mom. "We suck."

Lorelai removed her arms and sank into the couch. "Gimme' that bag."

-gGg-

Luke and Jess walked back to the apartment, hands stuffed in their pockets respectively. There was silence. Not angry silence or awkward silence. More like confused silence.

Jess was the first to break it. "So, you want to tell me what you were doing spying on me and Rory at the bridge?"

"No," Luke answered stiffly.

"That could be considered stalking, you know. And bringing Lorelai into it too- man, you must be really paranoid."

"Lorelai was the one who forced _me_ to come!" Luke defended. "I wouldn't have thought of something as weird as that!"

"Yet you still went along with it. I see you still play puppy to her. And then she ran away. May want to lengthen up that leash."

"Hey!" Luke was getting angry at Jess. Who was Jess to judge his life? "For your information, _she_ kissed _me, _and then _she_ ran away."

Jess stopped abruptly. Luke waved a hand in front of his face. Jess shook his head and regained focus. "Sorry. Threw me for a sec'." Luke rolled his eyes, and the infamous smirk replaced a look of shock on Jess' face. "So you're _that_ bad a kisser..."

"I didn't even see you and Rory touch, let alone kiss. Who came out on top at the top tonight?" Luke retorted. That shut Jess up. It was Luke's turn to smirk.

Jess glared at his uncle, and they fell back into their silent walk. Neither spoke while walking, to caught up in their thoughts (coincidently caused by the other.)

_Why did Lorelai kiss me?_

_Why did Rory get mad at me?_

_Why did Lorelai run away?_

_Why did Rory mention the 'I love you' just now?_

_Do I suck at kissing?_

_Do I suck?_

Before they knew it, they were both at the diner. Luke's was closed, yet there was a short blonde woman at the counter. When she saw them come it, she jumped up and squealed.

"Liz," they both muttered, then stepped up to her.

"Jess," she said, standing on her tiptoes to peck him on the cheek. "I can't believe you came. Didn't you say you were busy?"

"Uh, things cleared up," Jess answered, trying to ignore a glaring Luke.

"Well that's great!" Liz exclaimed. "Because the wedding's, well, tomorrow!"

"What?" Luke exclaimed. Jess just stood, speechless.

"Yeah!" Liz smiled apologetically. "I mean, it worked out for everyone. The Renaissance Fair people are bringing the stuff out early, the preacher at noon, wedding's at 3, bing, bang, boom!"

Luke was skeptical. "How long have you planning this wedding?"

"Oh, not that long," Liz waived off. "You were just the last one I told." Luke's mouth gaped open. "Well, see you both tomorrow at 6 to set up!" Liz smiled widely and quickly left the diner.

Jess turned to look at Luke. Luke looked out the door.

"Unbelievable."

-gGg-

Luke made a fist and pounded on the bathroom door. "Jess, get your ass out here. I'm not sure how much more 'Huzzahs' I can take. And TJ has been discreetly suggesting that he's sure he can find some tights in my size, so I need a distraction. Get out of there!" No answer. Luke glared and pounded some more. "What the hell are you doing in there?" Luke opened the door to find a sleeping Jess on the floor.

"Get outta' here Luke." Jess complained.

"Not without you," Luke insisted, hoisting his nephew up. "You're coming with me." Jess yawned in response. Luke gripped him arm and forced him out the door. "Great," Luke looked to the ceiling when he saw the reason for Jess being here at all.

"TJ," Luke growled. "What are you doing here."

"Found 'em." TJ grinned, holing up a pair of bright red tights. "They're a little small, but no shame in that."

Luke shoved Jess when he began to smirk. "I don't want any tights, TJ."

"Aw, come on." TJ chided, entering the apartment. Luke sighed and followed TJ. "Hey!" TJ exclaimed. "If they're too small for you," he explained, turning to the now-scowling young man, "then Jess can totally try them on."

"Yeah," Luke said smiling, "Try 'em on Jess."

"I'll pass," Jess muttered.

"Are you sure?" TJ insisted, "Because they feel fantastic."

"Positive," Jess nodded.

TJ stood silent for a moment, then broke into a grin. "I think I know why you two are so bitter."

"Oh really?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "And tell us- why might that be?"

"Well," TJ said, plopping down on the couch. "Here I am, today, getting married. And here are you, not."

"He caught us Luke," Jess said turning to his uncle, getting down on one knee. "I'd like to spend the rest of my life you."

Luke rolled his eyes and pulled Jess back up. "I don't think that's the reason, TJ."

"I didn't mean getting _married_, per say," TJ explained, now reclined on the couch. "I think you two are a little jealous that I'm in a relationship. Not only that, but in one with an _extremely_ hot lady."

"Sister," Luke said.

"Mother," Jess echoed.

"How about you guys tell me what's going on with Lorelai," TJ turned to Jess, "and Rory."

"No," Luke and Jess said simultaneously.

"You know, you two should listen to me," TJ said. "After all, in around seven hours, I'll be your brother-in-law and dad."

"You can deal with Daddy first," Jess shoved Luke up. TJ patted the spot on the couch next to him.

"Uh," Luke stalled, sitting down. "Well last night I was with Lorelai."

"Go on,"

"And she, uh, kissed me and ran away."

"Well," TJ contemplated, "I would bet she has feelings for you. She was surprised at her actions and ran. Lorelai's probably a little worried that she ruined your friendship, and even more worried that you won't want to be with her after she ran away. I'd talk to her, or else she'll just think you guys are acting like it never happened."

Luke widened his eyes and quickly stood up. "Uh, thanks."

"No promblemo. Jess?"

"Got an hour?" Luke scoffed. Jess glared.

"Don't be shy, sit down by me," TJ suggested.

"I'll stay up here." Jess looked around nervously. "Well, last winter, I told Rory I loved her, then left. During spring break, we saw each other and became sort-of-friends. Then she got mad at herself for forgiving me, and then left. When I came down here for the wedding, she wanted me to explain things. I did, until she asked about the 'I love you.' She got mad that I didn't answer, then stormed off."

TJ let out a slow whistle. Luke just looked confused. "Well, here's what I would do," TJ started. "Rory is not really sure what to do about you. She likes you, but she hates that no one else does." He paused and looked at Jess. "Sorry," He apologized when he saw Jess' face. "It's true. Anyway, she also hates herself for still liking you. I would go say you're sorry to anyone who's close to her, and then go to her. Tell her the truth. See what see does."

TJ bounded off the couch and put his arms around the two men. This was no easy task, since he was substantially shorter than either of them. "Good luck," he said, patting them on the back, then turned and left.

Jess ran his hand through his hair. Luke still looked confused.

"That was, uh."

"Yeah."


	11. The Start

_A/N: Oh, wow. It's been a long time, hasn't it... Oops. I didn't mean to, honest. I just don't wanna finish the story! It's sad! Yes, this is the last chapter. I thank all of you who have stuck with me from the beginning and those who came during the middle and those who popped up here and there- all of you! So without further ado- here comes the last chapter of _Girl in Bikinis and Jess Mariano Doin' the Twist?

_Disclaimer: Heck yeah I own Gilmore Girls! What are they gonna do? Sue me?!?_

Jess took in a big breath. _Easy one first_.

"Hey, Luke?"

Luke turned to look at his nephew. This was the second time Luke had ever seen Jess nervous, the first time being when Jess asked him if he could come back.

"Yeah?"

"I'm, uh, sorry."

Luke's eyebrows raised so high they almost went into his hairline. "Wha...What?":

"I'm sorry," Jess repeated, looking at his shoes. "I wasn't fair to you. I didn't do anything you asked. I didn't graduate. I shitted around. I was stupid, really stupid. And I'm sorry." Jess reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "I was planning on just slipping this somewhere inconspicuous, but in light of what TJ just said, I'll just give it to you now."

Luke took the envelope, apprehensive, and opened it. Out fell several bills with various numbers on them, totaling to an amount of, well, a lot.

"I would have given you a check," Jess shrugged, "but I don't have a checking account."

Luke looked down at his nephew, and a feeling surged through him. It was an unfamiliar feeling. He guessed it was the one most parents got when their kids did something good.

"I can't accept this Jess," Luke said finally. "You're family."

"I owe you," Jess answered. "And if you give it back, I'll just put it in that inconspicuous place I was talking about earlier."

Luke smiled and pulled Jess into a hug. It was a little weird. Weird, but nice. "You can always come here if you need anything."

After a moment, Jess pulled away. "There's something I gotta do," he said.

Luke considered asking him what. He decided not to. He trusted Jess now. "Okay."

"Okay."

-gGg-

_One down, two to go._

"Lorelai?"

The tall, dark haired women turned and glared at him. "You know, the whole reason I come to Weston's is to avoid Luke. I don't need his younger, grumpier, meaner, and all together more annoying counterpart to come and sniff me out."

Jess stuffed his hands in his pockets. This was going to be slightly more difficult than he had expected. No, scratch that. It was going to be nearly impossible. But he had to try. He owed her that much.

"So, where's Rory?"

"Oh, ho ho," Lorelai sarcastically laughed and gave Jess a 'look'. "You have done all the damage you're going to do there, my friend."

"So she's not here?"

"No, she thought that I was being incredibly stupid, with Luke and all, so she boycotted this coffee outing." She raised her eyebrows when she noticed Jess had sat down at her table. "The only reason I told you that was I assumed you saw me when I ran away. That wasn't an invitation to sit down and have a heart-to-heart."

"That's the last thing I want, believe me."

Lorelai contemplated the young man sitting nervously before her. "Come on Jess, spit it out."

"I'm sorry."

So _not_ what she was expecting. "Um, excuse me. I think the apocalypse is due to hit any second now."

Jess rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

Lorelai tilted her head and placed her hand over her heart. "Now what do I owe this apology to? I think I should do something. I mean, Jess Mariano apologized. That's impressive." She smirked at the annoyed look on Jess' face. "No, seriously. I'm curious. What brought this on, because, frankly, I'm not even sure I know what you're apologizing for."

Jess fiddled with his hands. Then his zipper. Then Lorelai's coffee cup. She snatched it back. "I guess I figured we got off on the wrong foot. I was pretty stupid. We even sort of bonded, I guess, over cold egg rolls, then you hated me again because of the bracelet. I guess I'm sorry I never gave you a chance."

"I buy that, but not completely." Lorelai studied him. He fidgeted under her gaze. After awhile, she spoke up again. "This is for Rory, isn't it?"

Jess sighed. "Yeah."

Lorelai gave a half-smile. "Okay."

Jess had just stuck this encounter under the _after-school special _ category when Lorelai spoke again.

"And I'm sorry you're a punk-fart-nugget."

"Always a pleasure, Lorelai."

"Hey, you're not so bad yourself, kid. Just stay away from my coffee."

Jess noticed she didn't say 'daughter'.

-gGg-

She wouldn't let Jess one-up her. She had to always be one step ahead. And if Jess had decided to grow-up and get Rory back, by golly she would too. It was evening now, and if she wanted to be even, she'd have to do it now.

Now where to start? _Luke, I love you_. No, too forward._ Luke, I think you're something special_. No, too songish. _Luke, I think you're the bee's knees._ No, too 1920s.

And then she was at Luke's. No more stalling, no more questioning. She knew she wanted to be with Luke, and she got what she wanted.

Normally.

"Oh, uh, Lorelai," Luke stammered when she entered the diner. "I didn't realize you'd be coming in today."

"Luke, can I talk to you."

She saw his Adam's apple go up... then down. She gulped in response. "Sure. What?"

"Um, in your storage room." That only sounded slightly slutty.

"Oh, uh sure. Follow me."

He lead her into he dark, dingy room. She hoped that wasn't an omen.

"Luke, last night wasn't fair to you."

"It's fine, Lorelai. Really, it-"

"No, let me finish, or I don't think I'll be able to. You see, when I kissed you, I wasn't thinking clearly. I wasn't in my right mind. I'd just come out of a complicated relationship, and come to think of it, you had to. I acted totally irrationally."

She saw Luke literally deflate. "Oh. That's fine, because-"

"I wasn't done yet. You see, that's what I was thinking when I ran away. But now I know that's a bunch of stupid. B.S. Hell, bullshit. I like you Luke. I just don't want to ruin our friendship if you don't feel the same way."

A pause. Barely a second, yet it felt like a millennium. Then she was in his arms, his mouth on hers, and it was perfect. She knew that this was where she wanted to be, in this dusty, dirty, wonderful room.

Luke and Lorelai. She liked it.

-gGg-

Rory sat reading on the bridge. Stupid, stupid bridge. Cliché bridge. Well, okay. She wasn't really reading.

A shadow fell over the book she was, ahem, reading. Rory looked up into the face of the first and last person she wanted to see. "You."

Jess shrugged. "I guess. If you want it to be."

Rory shrugged in return. "I'm not really sure. Could you be a really big ice cream cone?"

Jess slided over to where she was sitting. "'Kay."

"I'm not sure how good all that hair stuff would taste," Rory grimaced, "so I guess your only option is going to be Jess Mariano."

He glanced over to the book she clutched to her chest. _Howl_. "Good book?"

Rory glanced down and blushed. "Fabulous," she said bitterly. Then, softer, "Have you read it?"

"Not much."

Rory smiled. "That doesn't make much sense."

"Well, what is much?"

They sat for awhile, looking at the rippling effect their shoes were making in the pond.

"I apologized to Luke and your mom." 

Rory looked at Jess thoughtfully. "Why?"

"I'm a punk-fart-nugget." Rory gave him a look of confusion. "Your mom's words, not mine."

Rory nodded. "That makes sense."

_Hardest one for last. _"I only have to apologize one more time."

"You don't need to."

"Yeah, I do. I'm a punk-fart-nugget, and I am truly sorry." If anyone else had said this, Rory would have burst out laughing or died of revulsion. Jess said it so calmly, so honestly, that she could only take it seriously. Jess then went on to relay to her all that had happened. How TJ had been strange, how Luke had been gracious, how Lorelai had been oddly supportive. How he had waited for hours, trying to think up what to say, and he still didn't have it.

"You are forgiven." Jess smiled. Rory smiled back. He'd done a lot for her today. He had acted totally out of character- honest, open, yet still utterly and completely Jess. Had he changed? She'd try again- after all, he was only a boy.

"You know, you get 24 hours to answer a question."

Jess paused for a minute. "I didn't answer because I didn't want to complicate your life. But I think we're always going to be complicated, so I'll just say it- yeah, I did."

Rory's heart raced. "Your turn," she managed to get out.

"Did you mean what you said at the end of the phone call at your graduation?"

"Yeah,"

"And now?"

"I don't think it any more."

Then, the gap between them was closed. It was timid, not at all like the first time they kissed. It was an agreement- they didn't have to change for each other. They just had to be with each other. They had both moved, both started it. Neither of them cared, though. They were just happy that for once, they didn't have to care at all.

_A/N: Well, I hope you liked the end of my story. I know it was a little rushed, but this is kind of how I pictured it. Nothing too big. Thanks for reading!_

_Disclaimer: I'm such a chicken. I don't own it at all- don't blame me!_


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